Speaking on the recent Hathras incident, around which the Congress party tried to build a caste narrative to stoke caste-based riots in Uttar Pradesh, Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui said that caste bias is not only a reality but also a persisting problem in the villages in Uttar Pradesh. The actor, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, in an interview with NDTV said that so deep-rooted is this problem that despite his fame and popularity, he too has not been spared from discrimination in his village.
“The fact that I am famous doesn’t matter to them. It is deeply entrenched within them…it is in their veins. They consider it their pride. The Sheikh Siddiquis are the upper caste, and they will not have anything to do with those they consider beneath them. Even today it is there. It is very difficult,” said the Sacred Games actor.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui reveals how he still faces the bias in his village
He revealed that in his own family, his grandmother was from a lower caste and thus, even today they have not been accepted. “In my own family, my grandmother was from a lower caste. Even today, they have not accepted us because of my grandmother.”
Condemning the unfortunate Hathras incident, the actor said that “what is wrong is wrong”.
“Our artiste community is also speaking out against what happened in Hathras. It is very important to speak out. It is a very unfortunate incident,” said Nawazuddin.
On Twitter, he said, people may say there is no caste discrimination. But if the same people travelled around, they would find a very different reality. He referred to his own village.
Congress and its friendly media gave Hathras incident a caste/communal colour
It is a fact that discrimination based on caste and religion, especially in the smaller towns of India, is a reality. This is possibly why the Congress party thought it to be a good idea to attach this angle to the Hathras incident and stoke massive caste-based riots in the village.
Recently, in a sting operation, Rahul Gandhi’s close aide had revealed on camera Congress’ sinister plot to instigate caste-based riots in Hathras. Dalit Congress leader Shyoraj Jivan, who happens to be close to the Gandhi scion had in an on-camera admission said that the Congress had turned the Hathras incident into a caste-based crusade because they had plans to stoke full-fledged riots in the village and feed off the violence to reinstitute Congress party’s drowning political fate.
The Yogi Adityanath government had also in an affidavit submitted to the SC had asserted that the vested interests were trying to exploit the incident by giving it a caste/communal colour. The government said that a vicious campaign has been unleashed to defame the State govt and a certain section of print and electronic media, social media and political parties have been attempting to incite caste/communal riots.
The government had also filed an FIR alleging international conspiracy to trigger a caste-based flare-up in Uttar Pradesh over the Hathras incident.